Posts Tagged ‘Fr. William Rock’
The Virtues and the Gifts: Supernatural Actions
In a previous article, it was stated that Sanctifying Grace provides the necessary equality between the sanctified man and God for the existence of friendship between them. Not an absolute equality, of course, as there can never be a total equality between the Uncreated and the creature, but enough for the establishment of friendship. And while…
Read MoreReturning Another Way
The word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek “ἐπιφάνεια,” [epipháneia] which means “manifestation,” and the Feast of the Epiphany, kept on January 6th, the 13th Day of Christmas, commemorates three manifestations of Christ: the visitation of the Magi from the East, Our Lord’s Baptism, and Our Lord’s first miracle of turning water into wine at the…
Read MoreInequality in Friendship
In a previous article, it was stated that just as there is an analogy between the natural life of man and the supernatural life of grace, there is an analogy between the development of human friendship and the friendship between the soul and God. However, in his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle, the Philosopher, notes that “if…
Read MoreKnowledge of God and Friendship
The following is the beginning of a series by the author. In a friendship, having correct knowledge of one’s friend is necessary and foundational. For example, let’s say that one has a friend and holds that this friend lives in Houston, works at an aquarium, is unmarried, and graduated from Miami University while in reality…
Read MoreThe Holy Eucharist – Past, Present, and Future
In the Magnificat Antiphon for Second Vespers of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Church sings “O sacrum convívium, in quo Christus súmitur: recólitur memória passiónis eius: mens implétur grátia: et futúræ glóriæ nobis pignus datur, allelúia. / O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind…
Read MoreEffects of Holy Communion
There is a correspondence between the natural uses of the matter of the Sacraments and at least some of the effects they produce. For example, an effect of Baptism is that one is born again as an adopted child of God. When one is born naturally, one is wet. When one is born again supernaturally,…
Read MoreProper Dispositions of the Reception of Holy Communion
As is the case with each of the Sacraments, the fruitful reception of Holy Communion brings about in the recipient an increase of Sanctifying Grace, the Infused Virtues, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. But the degree of growth in each of the recipients will be proportional to one’s disposition. The minimum required disposition…
Read MoreWhen Christ Our Pasch was Sacrificed
“When Christ our Pasch was sacrificed” – Over the course of the 40 days of Eastertide, this phrase will recur again and again during Mass when the Easter Preface is prayed. These words cannot but draw us back to the Epistle read on Easter Sunday from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (5:7-8) which…
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